Summary

Cubewanos and plutinos: orbit distribution. Generated by a program written by Eurocommuter.

Main graph

The position of an object represents

• its orbit’s semi-major axis a in AU (horizontal axis)
• orbit’s inclination i in degrees (vertical axis).

The size of the circle illustrates the object’s size relative to others. For a few large objects, the diameter drawn represents the best current estimates. For all others, the circles represent the absolute magnitude of the object. The eccentricity of the orbit is shown indirectly by a segment extending from the left (perihelion) to the aphelion to the right. In other words, the segment illustrates the variations of the object's distance from the Sun. Objects with nearly circular orbits will show short segments while highly elliptical orbits will be represented by long segments.

Main resonances with Neptune are marked with vertical bars; 1:1 marks the position of Neptune’s orbit (and its Trojan asteroids), 2:3 marks the orbit of Pluto (and its moons) etc.

Histograms

Histograms show the population of objects with the parameter (eccentricity e and inclination i respectively) inside the given interval.¹ The population is expressed in % of the total population (vertical axis)

• for inclination, the interval is 5^o, i.e. the first bar shows the relative population of objects with i in 0-5^o range, the next in 5-10^o range etc.
• for the eccentricity e, the interval is 0.1, i.e. the first bar shows the relative population of objects with e in 0-0.1 range (quite circular orbits)
• for semi-major axis a, the interval is 2AU i.e. the first bar shows the relative population of objects with e in 10-12AU range.

e/i charts

• vertical axis: orbit’s inclination i in degrees, 5^o intervals
• horizontal axis: orbit’s eccentricity e; 0.05 intervals
• each small square represents a given range for both the eccentricity e and the inclination i.²

As near circular orbits occupy the first column (e<0.05) and the orbits with the lowest inclination i <5% occupy the lowest row, the square in the bottom left corner represents the number of near circular, very lowly inclined orbits.

• the relative population is represented with ‘cartographic’ colours: (from small numbers plotted as green ‘valleys’ to brown 'peaks'.³ Colors labeled in %.
• a grey square represents a single object (an outlier) in this range.

Footnotes

¹Distribution of plutinos is plotted but excluded from the cubewanos’ histograms.
²As near-circular orbits occupy the first column (e<0.05) and the orbits with the lowest inclination (i<5 degrees) occupy the lowest row, the square in the bottom left corner represents the 'cold population' of near circular, very lowly inclined orbits.
³A grey square represents a single object (an outlier) in this range.

Data source

Minor Planet Center Orbit database (MPCORB) as of 2007-03-7. Resonant orbits' classification from MPC Circular 2006-X45 (2006-12-21).

Notes

Licensing

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